Bako National Park: One of Malaysia’s Best Wildlife Spot

Bako National Park by amrufm, Flickr.

I was around ten years old when my father took me and my sister, Sophia, for hiking in a forest somewhere in Mindanao, the easternmost island in the Philippines. It wasn’t an easy trail for children our age—frequent rains have made the earth muddy and slippery, there was no proper path to walk on, and an angry river gushed by twenty feet below. I remember us losing our way further into the dense forest, me being extremely thirsty and, at one point, passing out. I also remember us eventually crossing paths with some local men, who gave us directions. And I vividly remember how, despite the dangerous situation, that the entire experience was so thrilling. I realized that day how much I loved coming up-close with nature.

My second hiking experience came several years later when I joined my friends from the university up the mountains of Batad, one of the most beautiful places in the Philippines. It wasn’t dangerous, but there was a lot of walking uphill involved; more like crawling uphill actually. I remember some of the girls packed hair dryer (there wasn’t electricity where we camped that night), makeup kits, and lots of canned food. Imagine the weight of all that! The trip was a very memorable one.

That desire to be close to nature is kicking in again with full force. The special part is that I now have a husband to look after me (and carry my hair dryer). Since I am reading so much about Malaysia these days, I figured it’s the best place to come up close with wildlife. Besides, Masood’s friend couldn’t stop raving about how he had the time of his life in one of Malaysia’s national parks.

One of such parks that travel writer Chris Wotton suggests is Bako National Park in Sarawak. He mentions that with its coastal location, this park boasts secluded beaches and plenty of panoramic rocky shoreline as well as all you would expect of a national park including jungle streams, numerous species of birds and monkeys, and waterfalls. There are also plenty of opportunities for easy or more challenging nature trails through the jungle canopy – there are a total of sixteen different color coded trails, in fact.

You can also spend the night at the park, accommodation is possible. There are organised night excursions and, armed with flashlights, you get a glimpse of nocturnal animals. You might spot a python, a flying lemur, bats, the civet and even owls.

If you would like to find out more about Bako National Park or travelling to Malaysia, please visit the Tourism Malaysia website.

‘San, Batad is gorgeous! Mahirap nga lang pag tag-ulan, sobrang putik. I hate when that sticks in the shoes or slippers. Otherwise, it’s one of the amazing places I’ve ever been to. Hope you are having a fun weekend!

Having the husband to carry the hair dryer is great, but I really like when the husband holds the entire suitcase (or both) and all I have to carry is the camera hehe… try it!‘liya recently posted..Going East

You can paint this picture. I don’t see nothing wrong with using it as an inspiration to paint. Besides, you’re not using it for commercial purposes. Still, lemme try to get hold of this photographer and email him, just in case 🙂

Hi Nadia !!
Trekking or hiking around nature is also interesting n adventurous … so are u planning to visit Malaysia in coming months. Hope u do …. so that i can have a trip through ur post too 🙂Sharmila recently posted..Cruise to Oslo …

May ur wish get fulfilled soon and u get to travel chappa chappa of malaysia. 🙂
‘The special part is that I now have a husband to look after me (“and carry my hair dryer”). ‘ Uh-oh!
I guess my brother had been to this park,not sure though. Even he is into photography esp wildlife. and he raves about how Malaysia is a beautiful country and blah blah.